Rail joint



April 2, 192:5.

R. E. KEOU GH 1,707,438

RAIL JOINT Original Filed April 5, 1926 INVENTOR W/U CY A ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 2, 1 929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

ROBERT EMMET Keenan, or ,mon'rnnnn, QUEBEC, CANADA, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERI can FORK & HOE COMPANY, or CLEVELAND, onto, A CORPORATION 01' OHIO.

RAIL JOINT.-

orisil al application filed April 3, 1926, Seriallifo, 99,47 5. Divided and this application filed hecember I '17, 1928. Serial N0. 326,507. 1 r

My invention relates to rail jointsand has a' special application to the problem o1 pro longing the term ,of usefulness of the rail j oint' elements commonly employedfior the purpose of joining railroad rails in end toend relation. g

It has been found necessary to remove the laterally disposed clamping side bars of rail joints after a certain period of effective use,

due to the fact that the movement of-trains over'the rails employing such joint causes the sidebar elements towear away at the portions of their surfaces whereincontact is had with-the rail flanges. Thesevside bar elements are usually made of a good quality 01" steel, and their replacement is expensive in material and labor required.

In rail jointseinployed for the purpose of securing the abutting ends, of railroad rails together, it is the general practice to employ a pair of rail joint side bars, one on either side of the joined rails, compressing these together by means of bolts passing through aligned openings in the side bars and the rail, and in such cases' it is usual to employ side bars having inclined upper and i lower rail engaging facesfifor engagement with the under side of the rail head and the upperside'of therail flange, respectively,

It has been found that in use, considerable wear of the rail joint side bar elements and of the contacted portions of the rail head and rail flange occurs, due to'pounding of the joined rail ends by the passage ofthe supporting wheels or heavy railroad trains.

It has been found, moreover, that this wear occurs in greater measure asthe abutting ends of the rails are approached, and that the wear is progressively less and less'in contacting portions-of the rail joint side bars and the rail from the abutting ends of the rails along the rails. v Sometimes where onerway are employed, the fishing surfaces of the receiving rail flange and of the joint bar ad acent thereto are worn to a much greater extent than the simllar surfaces relating to the leav ng ra1l.;

The practice generally been to discard" the side bars when. the wear above mentioned becomes excessive and the rail cannot be securely held by the side bars, evenwhen the securing bolts arectightened by turning present application is a division.

railwayjjtracks the nuts provided upon their ends, such side bars have generally had to be replaced. vIf

to take'up the ear between the bars and any effort has been made to employ shims rail,"such efiort, so far as I am aware, has

siderabledegree of success. I find that by portions. of greatest thickness, at the middle ot the shim, to its ends, Whereat the shim 1S much thinner than at the'middle, I am enabled to take up the wear substantially of theportions of side bars and railscontactmg wlth theshim. In such constructions, I

place the thicker middle portion of the shim at that portion of the oint adjacent the abutting ends'of the railroad rails, Where the most Wear occurs. ij i Such ashim' is described and broadly claimed ininy copending application Serial present invention is directed more particularly toward the provision of a wear compensating shim for railg joiints of railways employed largely for one-way trafiic, or under such other conditionswherein there results a crevice of greater size under the rail than under the other rail head, l V I -'In -1ny (Jo-pending application vSerial No.

commensurable with the amount of the'wear r No. 99,47 5, filed April 3, 1926, of which the head of one rail of a pair of'abutting rails 232,539, filed November 11, 1927, I disclosed and claimed separate wear compensating e1e- H I mentsadaptable for use under such conditionsx The present applicationis directedto theprovision of acne-piece shim adaptable for insertion'between the adjoining rail ends and the joint sidebar to compensate for the different amounts of Wear occasioned by movement of the different rail ends.

' An object/of my invention, therefore, is

to increase the effectivelifeof the side barsv employedffor the purpose of securely joining longitudinally aligned rails together.

Another 'object of my invention isto perp ym of Side bar elements hav ing wearing surfaces otinexpensive material, and which, except" for my invention,

would be worn away even more rapidly than are the like surfaces of'the rail joint side bar elements now commonly in use, but which,

because of exposure to wear, are now required to be-made of a superior weanreslstant material.

Another object of my invention is to cfiect the production of an element which may be used as a shim or liner, as an article of manufacture, and which may be added to a worn rail joint to effect its continued use in a highly eflicient and satisfactory manner.

Another object of my invention is to provide a one-piece wear compensating shim for rail joints adaptable to differently compen- Sets for different amounts of wear occasioned by pounding by the ends of two abutting rails of a rail joint. Another object of my invention is to provide a one-piece wear compensating shim for rail joints adaptable to differently compensate for different amounts of wear occ'asioned by pounding by tie ends of two abutting rails of a rail joint, \vh of the rails is traversed by the tr. e passing over the rails, generally before the other rail. Y

Other objects of my invention and the invention itself will be readily apparent from the accompanyingdescription, in which description reference will be had to the drawings accompanying this specification and forming a portion thereof.

teferring to the drawings: 7

Fig. 1 illustrates in perspective a wear compensating means for rail joints embodying tllGIDTlHClPlQS of my. invention.

Fig. 2 is a similar view of a rail joint employing the wear compensating means of Fig. 1. j

Fig. 8 is a section taken transversely of the joint betweenth-e rail ends of 2.

Fig. i is a perspective view of a wear compensating means which is another embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of a rail joint employing the wear compensating means of Fig. 4, the rail joint side bar being removed in this figure to permit a view ofthe shim as if in place in thejoint.

Referring now first particularly to Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive, illustrating an embodiment of my invention, the said embodiment comprises a shim in the form of an elongated strip of tempered steel, which is bent longitudinally to provide a pair of angularly disposed portions, namely a shim portion 1 and an apron portion 2.

Both of these portions 1 and 2 taper in thickness in both directions from the mid-' dle of the shim, longitudinally thereof, one longitudinally disposed tapered end portion nally disposed shim portion 4.

Contiguous to the junction 5 of the two.

shim ends, both shim portions 3 and 4 are of greatest thickness, the thickness of and lofts,

mo n res the strip decreasing progressively therefrom toward the ends 6 and 7 respectively for the portions 3 and 4:.

1 as having a thicker portion 3 so dis- 0, and the thinner portion 4: to fit under the head of the rail 9, where the rail 8 occasions greater wear than the rail 9, it will be understood that I contemplate placing-a shim otherwise formed like that illustrated in Fig. 1, but with the relative positions of thicker and thinner portions reversed from that shown in Fig. 1, rights and lofts being thereby provided for rail joints. As an alternative expedient to provide rights Fig. l'may be inverted so that the'apron portion 2 is placed between the upper surface of the railjoint side bar, such as 10, and the under surface of the head of the rail posed as to fit under the head of the rail a shim such as illustrated in 8, and in such case what I have before termed wear compensating or shim portion 1, will depend between the web 11 of the ra1l and the inner surface of the joint side bar 10.

I prefer, however, to employ the's'hims in rights and lofts as above referred to and I further prefer to provide the apron portion such as is illustrated at 22, Fig. with one or more depending apron prongs 154 and 13 having their outer lateral edges 14: preferably so spaced as to be engageable with rail joint bolts 15 top revent longitudinal displacement of the shim in' the joint while in use, as illustrated in Fig. 5.

li hile in the shim of Fig. 1 I have illusv trated the tapering from the middle portion 5 toward the ends, as accomplished by similarly converging inner. and outer surfaces of the strip, I may sometimes employ a shim having either the outer or the inner surfaces longitudinally straight and with the other inner or outer surface converging from the- The shims as above described, have a'particular application in connection with rail joints, on one-way railroad tracks. Under conditions of predominately one-way traffie, the receiving rail occasions a great deal more wear in the rail joint than the leaving rail, and therefore the thickened end of the slums of my present invention would, be inserted in the grooves thus occas oned by the recervmgrafl, and the'thin edge of the shim insertedin the grooves.

occasioned by the lesser wear of the leaving rall.

Having thus described my invention in certain embodiments I am aware that numerous and extensive departures may be made from the embodiment herein illustrated and described but without departing from the spirit of my invention. I

I claim: 1. 'A metallic rail joint shim of integral construction adapted to be placed between worn portions of a rail joint side bar and a pair of substantially abutting rails, of metallic material, tapered toward the ends and having two joined longitudinally extending portions of different thicknesses.

2. A metallic rail joint shim adapted to be placed in a crevice created by wear of contacting portions of a rail joint side with a pair of longitudinally aligned rail road rails, one o t' said rails being a leav-ingi" rail and the other beinga rece1v1ng'ra1l, of

a track used mostly for one-way traflic, the

portion thereof adapted to be fitted between the sidebar and the receiving rail being of greater thickness than the portion thereof adapted to be'fitted between the side bar and theleaving rail. I

for rail joints adapted 3; A metallic shim to be placed between a rail jointside bar and each of a pair of substantially abutting rails, having an end portion insertable between worn parts of one of the rails andthe side bar, of greater thickness than its-other por tion, both portions of the shim being tapered toward the ends of the shim.

4. A metallic rail joint'shim adapted to be placed in a crevice created by wear of contacting portions o'fa rail joint sidebar with a pair of longitudinally aligned railroad rails, one of said rails being a leaving rail and the other being a receiving rail, ofa track usedmostly for one-way trafiic, the portion thereof adapted'to be fitted between I the side bar and the receiving rail being of greater thickness than the portion thereof adapted to. be fitted between the side bar and worn portions of a railjoint side bar and a pair of substantially abutting rails, of me tallic material, tapered toward the ends and having two joined longitudinally. extending portions of dilierent thicknesses, said'shim being of angular cross sectional form throughout its length and comprising a depending apron portion adapted toproject downwardly between the web of the rails and the joint bars. Y

'6. A metallic rail joint shim ofintegral "construction adapted to be placed between worn portions of a rail joint side bar and a 7 pair of substantially abutting rails, of; me;- tallic material, tapered toward the ends and having two joined longitudinally extending portions of different thicknesses, said shims being of angular cross sectional form pending apron portion adapted to project downwardly between the web of the rails 'andthe joint bars, said apron comprising a downward extension adapted V .to contact laterally with the bolts securing the bars to the, rails, to prevent longitudinal displacement of the shim in the joint.

7.- A metallic rail joint shim of integral construction adapted to be placed between.

Worn portions of a rail joint side bar-and a pair of substantially abutting rails, of me-' 'tallic material, tapered toward the ends and having two joined longitudinally extending portions of different thicknesses, said shim being of angular v cross sectional form throughout its length and comprising a depending apron portionradapted to project downwardlybetween the web of the rails and the joint'bars, said apron comprising a throughout itslength and comprisinga dedownward extension adapted to contact the rails to prevent longitudinal displace- "laterally with the bolts securing the bars to ment of the shiinin the joint, said downwardextension comprislngtwoseparate ex-. tension aprons, each engageable with a sepa- 1 rate joint bolt. v.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature this 30th day ofNov 1928.

ROBERT EMMET K-EOUGH. 

